I like reading about all the good food I can't have anymore since moving, your bringing back some fond memories (making me hungry too) and reminding me of why I like hk and the directness of locals so damn much

jayinhk wrote:Fascinating that the Chiuchow are sandwiched between Guangdong and Fujian, but manage to be relatively culturally and linguistically independent.

Chaozhou is in Guangdong, and quite near Fujian. The Chaozhou language is in the Min language family, the language family of Fujian, rather than in the Yue language family. It is not completely mutually intelligible with other Min dialects, but neither are those from differing parts of Fujian. As you can see in the chart here, it's very closely connected to Hokkien / Taiwanese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Min_Chinese

I think many Chaozhou people can also speak Cantonese.

The Hakka (Kejia) people are a better example of a group that's ethnic Han Chinese, but is a bit more culturally and linguistically independent.

Ah yes, I was aware that Chaozhou was in GD, but culturally and linguistically independent to a degree. Perhaps 'sandwiched between' was a poor choice of words.

I read about the ethnic groups of Fujian last night (in brief). Grew up watching Hakka women in their hats, farming out on the islands and the New Territories of HK, but never knew much about them.

teaisme wrote:I like reading about all the good food I can't have anymore since moving, your bringing back some fond memories (making me hungry too) and reminding me of why I like hk and the directness of locals so damn much

Yeah, HK is definitely a place like nowhere else. I do find the directness a bit much at times, but I grew up interacting with the HK Chinese on a very limited basis because of the British school bubble (I know you understand), so I still have a lot to learn. Now that I interact with locals every day and my Canto's getting better, my experience of HK is a lot more 'realistic.' I'm also eating better (and cheaper) food.

It was 1:20 pm and I hadn't even had breakfast yet (just lots of Yixing-brewed suk (ripe) bo lei) so I headed out with fishball noodles on my mind. I'd spotted a few places that I suspected would have good, handmade fishballs a few days ago, so I made a beeline for them.

Before I got to the place I intended to get my meal from, I noticed another noodle place with an English menu card. I decided I was too hungry to proceed when I saw mention of wontons--a good shrimp wonton, to me, is about as good as it gets. I went in and was offered a seat, but said I wanted to get some noodles to go. I got a bowl of wonton with the flat rice flour noodles (ho fun) and 'dumplings' with regular oil noodles, as well as the requisite choi sum. I had no idea what was in the dumplings, but I decided they were worth a shot.

While waiting, I noticed the place had "Noodle Expert" in its name. I usually take that kind of thing with a grain of salt, but I also noticed a bucket with flour on the sides of it. Did they make their own noodles?

They took quite a while getting my order ready, which was tortuous since I was starving. Headed straight back to the office and hit the switch on the kettle. Brewed up some more bo lei and gave my new Yixing some TLC in the form of ruby-colored bathwater.

Well, this place definitely makes their own noodles. The dumplings were shrimp with a tiny strip of black fungus in each one. Amazing! Handmade noodles, wontons and dumplings for the price other places charge for much worse food!

Here's the bowl of wonton mein with some of Ying Kee's Supreme Pu Erh. The Yixing definitely brings out more flavor from the tea. I was a bit disappointed that the new teapot dribbles, but I realize why Marshal recommended it now. It may have one hole without a 'strainer' and it may dribble when pouring, but the quality of the clay is excellent, and that is really what matters most.

apache, good UK fish and chips would be lovely too--I'd trade you (but just once in a while)!

M, I'll let you know the next time I go there. I was too hungry to pay attention ^_^ I will definitely go there again though! The noodles were perfectly firm and chewier than the regular factory noodles you get anywhere else.

Interestingly, the first pu I bought still makes me hungriest. I don't know what kind of bacteria and mold are living in it, but it makes me feel great and makes me eat twice as much!

Pu does work well for cutting through grease, although alternating sips with bites a la yum cha seems to work best. Sometimes bull-drinking is the way to go

The best Jook I've ever had is on Wellington St. across from the Alain Mikli eyeglass boutique. It's just a couple of shops in from the corner on Wellington. Been there for years, has tables on 2 levels. The guy dowstairs runs it like a general leading his troops. Jook with fish is my favorite. Lots of ginger, steaming hot. Can't remember the tea but that should be a sign that this place is for eating.

Best Dim Sum I've ever had used to be in the Hyatt in TST but that's long gone. I'm not getting over there as much as I used to and things have changed in a big way especially in the Lan Kwai Fong and Hollywood Rd./Soho area. I still love HK a lot.

There's really no juk like HK juk. I like fish congee too, although I go for the lean pork and thousand-year-egg kind most of the time.

LKF and Soho are definitely in a constant state of change. I live in the general area, and actually spent the first few years of my life right on Wyndham St!

Took a break from Chinese food to have some homemade penne a la vodka with lots of vodka and prosciutto in the sauce. Drank liu'an all day yesterday, and I'm on the oolong today. Working from home this weekend, so I'm dying to get back to the office so I can drink some bo lei!

Woke up this morning, threw on my panama hat and decided I needed some good dim sum (including what I believe was a Chiuchow dumpling with peanuts in it..very nice) to go with my bo lei. Before the dim sum, I wandered into a household goods store. I wanted a stainless cha pan for the office. Ended up finding some round lids for stainless pans with drainage holes. I think they are intended for gongfu cha. I bought the largest size, thinking it would be ok even if it was a little large. Well, it ended up being one size too big for my pan, but it works just fine and saves my pots and cups from sitting in water and tea.

I had to get something for a buyer on the other side of town, so I made a trek out to Kowloon City, formerly one of the most infamous parts of Hong Kong, and now a prime destination for foodies. The place I wanted to go to was closed, since I got hopelessly stuck in traffic in the pouring rain today. I did, however, run into my old boss!

I decided to wander around. I did see some very expensive old CNNP cakes (one for $1,100 USD and one for closer to 2K) for sale at a Chinese medicine shop, but didn't find any of the tea shops I hear there are supposed to be in the area.

Hadn't had lunch, so I stumbled into a Uighur restaurant and had one of the best meals I've had in a long time. I got a lot of looks being big and brown, but when the staff and customers saw me seriously chowing down, they realized I knew what I was doing. I even got some takeout. The restaurant serves very light jasmine tea that was very pleasant. I'm not really a fan of the jasmine, but I quite enjoyed it today!

Going to eat my lamb, bamboo shoots and peppers on white rice and I think I'll make a pot of similarly light jasmine to wash it down. I bought an all stainless soy sauce pot today that will work great as a teapot, and for $2 even if it doesn't, I'm not too bothered.